Orange women fail to land berth in NCAA Tournament

For the second consecutive year, a resume featuring more than 20 victories wasn’t enough to land the Syracuse women’s basketball team in the NCAA Tournament.

The selection committee picked nine Big East teams, including two squads (Georgetown and St. John’s) that tied for seventh in the conference standings with SU at 9-7 and one (West Virginia) that finished a game behind at 8-8. SU beat St. John’s during the regular season and lost to West Virginia and Georgetown on the road. The Orange also fell to the Hoyas by one point, 61-60, in the second round of the Big East Tournament after leading by 11 points late in the second half.

The failure to land a bid will now thrust the Orange into the Women’s National Invitation Tournament for the third consecutive season. SU will host Monmouth University (23-9) at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Carrier Dome. The Hawks finished 23-9, losing the Northeast Conference Tournament title game to Saint Francis (Pa.), a team SU defeated earlier this season.

“When you look at what we did, I felt pretty confident that we were OK,” said fifth-year coach Quentin Hillsman. He emphasized that the Orange beat two teams that won their conference tournaments (then No. 6 Ohio State and Saint Francis) and defeated three Big East teams (Marquette, St. John’s and Louisville) that received NCAA berths.

“We had 22 wins (overall) and 10 wins in our conference (including a league tournament win over Seton Hall). I thought that 10 was the number, but I guess that’s not the number anymore.”

ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme had predicted that SU’s 22-9 mark and RPI of 54 was strong enough to land a 9 or 10 seed, but warned that its one-point loss to Georgetown could keep it from becoming the 10th Big East team in the NCAA’s 64-team field.

He also cautioned about SU’s strength of schedule rating, which ended up at 114 out of 343 schools — by far the worst mark in the Big East and the second straight year it was in triple digits.

The Orange’s SOS was bolstered by playing in the meaty Big East and by games against Ohio State and No. 2 Baylor, but it plunged because eight of Syracuse’s non-conference contests were against teams whose RPI ratings finished between 226 and 339.

During a teleconference after the brackets were announced, selection committee chair Marilyn McNeil said Syracuse was left out due the overall weakness of its nonconference slate.

"There were some concerns for Syracuse, as there was for many of the teams that did not make the field," McNeill said. "One of them always has been a factor, and that is the non-conference schedule. We look at that very closely. Syracuse also had nine losses against top 50 teams. So they were a team that had some blemishes in their record, and enough unfortunately to leave them out of the 33 (at-large berths)."

Hillsman said he thought he had scheduled a stronger non-conference slate this year, but admitted that if the low SOS turns out to be a reason why the selection committee passed over his team, he will attempt to correct it with future scheduling.

“We’re definitely going to have to address the problem because we don’t want to sit here every year going through the same thing,” he said. “If they say we have to bump up to get in the tournament, we’re going to do that.”

The women’s program has landed in the NCAA Tournament only four times, twice under former coach Barbara Jacobs in 1985 and ’88, once under Marianna Freeman in 2002 and once under Hillsman’s guide, during his second season in 2008. Syracuse was eliminated in its opening game each time.

Hillsman said he took an unfinished business approach with his players after they waited in vain during a team gathering at his home to hear Syracuse’s name called during the Selection Monday show.

“I said, ‘Guys, we need to win more basketball games, I’ll see you tomorrow for practice.’ That’s all I said,” said Hillsman, whose players were not made available for comment.

The more games will come in the WNIT, which also selects a 64-team field. Last year, Syracuse made a strong run in the second-tier tourney, downing Harvard, Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth before losing to Michigan in the quarterfinals.

If Syracuse defeats Monmouth in the first round, it would face the winner of the St. Bonaventure-Lehigh game. All games are played at venues of participating schools, meaning that game could also wind up in Syracuse.

Tickets for the SU-Monmouth game cost $11 for adults and $6 for students and youths. All seats are general admission.